by jimwalton » Sun Apr 05, 2020 10:36 am
> You are saying there is nothing wrong with sending people to hell as long as you offer them a way out.
What I'm saying is that it's just for the punishment to fit the crime. It's ultimately fair that people get what they deserve. If someone commits a crime, anyone with a sense of justice would agree that there should be a negative consequence that appropriately fits what they have done.
But mercy is also part of justice. We all know this. We recognize such a thing as justifiable homicide, where the perpetrator acted in self-defense, or in survival (like a woman who has been so severely abused for many years kills her husband). We get this. There should be accommodations for situations, motives, environment, and context.
> But it is wrong to send them to hell if you dont offer them a way out.
Punishment across the board ignores the principles of retribution and distribution of justice that make justice what it is: just. If God were just to pronounce encyclopedic judgment with no consideration of motive, environment, context or situation, and with no opportunity for any way out, that is certainly wrong.
> Since God could and would not do something that is wrong, why did he need to send Jesus?
Jesus was the way out. Jesus is the means by which the free gift of salvation is offered, accessible by and available to anyone without regard to intellect, economic status, culture, gender, or social status.
> If it is wrong to send someone to hell based solely on them sinning, then none of us would deserve hell and there would be nothing for Jesus to save us from.
I never claimed that it is wrong to send someone to hell based solely on them sinning. I know you're working hard to make God the guilty party here and Jesus an unnecessary strategy, but it doesn't work. What I said was, "They are in hell because they are separated from God and don't have the nature of Jesus in them, and they refused to appropriate the free gift of God that would save them from that end. ... There is nothing wrong with God sending people to hell for sinning, but it's not the situation you described. ... God sent Jesus because His atonement is the mechanism by which salvation can be appropriated."
In other words, you have asked all of these questions before, and I have already answered all these questions. Throughout the whole conversation, your premise has been faulty, and therefore your case development has been flawed, and therefore you conclusion is mistaken.
> You are saying there is nothing wrong with sending people to hell as long as you offer them a way out.
What I'm saying is that it's just for the punishment to fit the crime. It's ultimately fair that people get what they deserve. If someone commits a crime, anyone with a sense of justice would agree that there should be a negative consequence that appropriately fits what they have done.
But mercy is also part of justice. We all know this. We recognize such a thing as justifiable homicide, where the perpetrator acted in self-defense, or in survival (like a woman who has been so severely abused for many years kills her husband). We get this. There should be accommodations for situations, motives, environment, and context.
> But it is wrong to send them to hell if you dont offer them a way out.
Punishment across the board ignores the principles of retribution and distribution of justice that make justice what it is: just. If God were just to pronounce encyclopedic judgment with no consideration of motive, environment, context or situation, and with no opportunity for any way out, that is certainly wrong.
> Since God could and would not do something that is wrong, why did he need to send Jesus?
Jesus was the way out. Jesus is the means by which the free gift of salvation is offered, accessible by and available to anyone without regard to intellect, economic status, culture, gender, or social status.
> If it is wrong to send someone to hell based solely on them sinning, then none of us would deserve hell and there would be nothing for Jesus to save us from.
I never claimed that it is wrong to send someone to hell based solely on them sinning. I know you're working hard to make God the guilty party here and Jesus an unnecessary strategy, but it doesn't work. What I said was, "They are in hell because they are separated from God and don't have the nature of Jesus in them, and they refused to appropriate the free gift of God that would save them from that end. ... There is nothing wrong with God sending people to hell for sinning, but it's not the situation you described. ... God sent Jesus because His atonement is the mechanism by which salvation can be appropriated."
In other words, you have asked all of these questions before, and I have already answered all these questions. Throughout the whole conversation, your premise has been faulty, and therefore your case development has been flawed, and therefore you conclusion is mistaken.